Sunrise

I mentioned in a post a few days ago that I went scouting for a sunrise location to photograph Austin’s rapidly growing skyline. I found a location named Lou Neff Point. So, I packed up my gear early Saturday morning and headed downtown for a sunrise photography shoot. The clouds were a little thicker than I expected but the colors were still very vibrant. The location turned out to be good and the lake was very still as a result of the low wind. I will continue to return to this location with hopes of improving my results.

Town Lake (now known as Lady Bird Lake) is actually part of the Colorado River (Texas version). The lake was created in 1960 with the construction of Longhorn Dam. It is used primarily for flood control and recreation. It is surrounded by Austin’s Hike and Bike Trail and is used by thousands of people each week. The lake has not always been a good attraction. The lake was neglected and polluted during the 1970’s and it was an eyesore. Then Mayor Roy Butler teamed up with former First Lady Bird Jonson to establish the Town Lake Beautification Committee with the purpose of transforming the lake into a usable recreation area. The system of trails was built along the shore of the lake establishing what was known as Town Lake. There are various points along the lake that are favorite spots for photographers. Lou Neff Point is one of those locations.

Austin Skyline at Sunrise

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 Lens set on 32 mm. The camera was set on Aperture Priority mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 10 seconds and the ISO set at 100. This is a single image processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. I used Google Nik’s Color Efex Pro as well.

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